It is a well established principle of research that a writer's use of terms and/or expressions (groups of words) is to be understood in the light of the writer's other uses of the same terms or expressions. If an author's writings are not very extensive, comparisons may be difficult to make and word meanings difficult to establish.
This is emphatically not the case with Ellen White. She wrote twenty-five million words, and used terms and expressions with a remarkable uniformity of meaning. The student will note, however, that her usages, though clear, uniform and consistent in her own writings, are sometimes different from ours. In such cases we must let Ellen White speak to us in her own way, and take care that we do not force an alien interpretation, or our own interpretation, on to her words.
1. Of supreme importance to a correct understanding of Ellen White's statements about the humanity of Jesus must be the recognition of her rigid adherence to dictionary definitions in her use of such key words as sinful, sinless, sinfulness, and sinlessness. One gains the impression that she must have written with the dictionary at her elbow. An unguarded use of any of these terms in reference to the nature of Christ could be a cause of serious misunderstandings. She sought to avoid such misunderstandings by following dictionary definitions with undeviating precision.
Our first observation, as we approach this subject, is that Ellen White uses the terms nature and flesh as if, in the context of Christological discussions, they are interchangeable:
He took upon Him our sinful nature.[1]
He took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh.[2]
This is only a sampling of many such expressions. Next we observe her usage of the terms referred to above.
a. Sinful
Dictionaries offer as a meaning of the suffix -ful, to have a tendency toward.[3] This falls short of describing an actual act. The term sinful, according to this usage, does not refer to any act of sinning, much less to being full of sin, as some would read it. It means having a tendency toward sin, which accurately describes the flesh (nature) in which we fallen humans live. Ellen White consistently uses this term, sinful, to describe the flesh (nature) in which Christ made His earthly tabernacle. She saw His flesh (nature) as having the same tendencies (natural propensities, not evil propensities) that our flesh (nature) has. (See below on propensities.)
b. Sinless
The dictionaries define the suffix -less as meaning without and incapable of. Thus a fearless person is not capable of feeling fear, a remorseless person is not capable of feeling remorse, etc. , and a sinless nature is not capable of sinning. Ellen White repeatedly affirms that Christ never sinned, but she never describes the human flesh (nature) that He assumed as sinless, lest she be understood as saying that His human flesh (nature) was incapable of sinning. She did not stand with those who believe that it was impossible for Christ to sin. She believed that His temptations were real and that He could have sinned.
c. Sinfulness
The dictionaries define the suffix -ness as meaning a state of being. This is far beyond a tendency toward. It must involve the actual practice of sinning. Ellen White applies this term to humans, but never to Christ, lest she be understood as saying that Christ sinned. Observe:
In him was no guile nor sinfulness, ... yet He took upon Him our sinful nature.[4]
... taking the nature but not the sinfulness of man.[5]
She did not equate sinful with sinfulness, as some would do today, and in this it must be conceded that she is following the dictionary.
d. Sinlessness
Again, the dictionaries define the suffix -ness as meaning a state of being. Ellen White did not hesitate to apply this term to Christ, since she believed that He never sinned, and was never in the state of being a sinner. As she saw it, sinlessness in sinful nature was a real and practical possibility demonstrated by Christ and held before all Christians as a goal. Of some totally victorious Christians she predicts:
Everyone who by faith obeys God's commandments will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression.[6]
It is apparent that these persons will not have lost their fallen, sinful natures. Their condition will be sinlessness in sinful nature. This association of ideas is seen again in a statement about Christ:
In taking man's nature in its fallen condition, Christ did not in the least participate in its sin ... We should have no misgivings in regard to the perfect sinlessness of the human nature of Christ.[7]
Unlike Ellen White, and less careful about dictionary definitions than she was, some would equate sinless with sinlessness in their descriptions of Christ's human nature, apparently unconcerned that they are running the risk of being understood as describing His human nature as being incapable of sinning by their use of the word sinless. Ellen White did not do this. She applies the term sinlessness to the human nature of Christ, but not the term sinless. It is extremely unfortunate that some of her interpreters have not recognized this fact, and stubbornly insist that when she wrote sinlessness she actually meant sinless.[8] I am proposing that she meant what she wrote, and wrote what she meant. The following are a few other typical " White-isms," word usages that are peculiar to Ellen White. Familiarity with these will greatly enhance our understanding of her writings.
2. Merits of Christ--not only justification.
Our righteousness is found in obedience to God's law through the merits of Jesus Christ.[9]
... through Christ's merits we may be elevated to keep God's commandments.[10]
... Make us victors through His merits.[11]
... We must lay hold of the merits of Christ and cease to sin.[12]
3. Imputed righteousness--not only justification.
... Through the imputed righteousness of Christ, all who receive Him by faith can show their loyalty by keeping the law.[13]
... Thus making it possible for man to keep the commandments of God through His imputed righteousness.[14]
He testifies that through His imputed righteousness the believing soul shall obey the commandments of God.[15]
4. Substitute and Surety--not only justification.
... As our substitute and surety, He might overcome the prince of darkness in our behalf, and make us victors through His merits.[16]
... Through the perfection of the sinless substitute and surety, (the Christian) may run in the race of humble obedience to all of God's commandments.[17]
5. Second Chance--Man is having it now.
Some have suggested that the reason Adam did not die as soon as he sinned is that the Hebrew verb form in Genesis 2:17 does not require an immediate death. Ellen White offers a different explanation. According to her, the reason Adam did not die immediately is that Christ intervened immediately, so that man might have a second chance for salvation. Thus man is now having his second chance.
After the fall, Christ became Adam's instructor. He acted in God's stead toward humanity, saving the race from immediate death.[18]
The instant man accepted the temptations of Satan ... Christ, the Son of God, stood between the living and the dead, saying, "Let the punishment fall on me. I will stand in man's place. He shall have another chance."[19]
6. The Fall--not new faculties, etc.
The fall did not create in man new faculties, energies, and passions, for this would have been a reflection on God. It was through disobedience to God's requirements that these powers were perverted.[20]
7. Our nature--not an excuse for sin.
Do not say, "It is my nature to do thus and so, and I cannot do otherwise. I have inherited weaknesses that make me powerless before temptation."[21]
But many say that Jesus was not like us, that He was not as we are in the world, that He was divine, and we cannot overcome as He overcame. (She then quotes several texts of scripture to refute this error.)[22]
8. Besetments--not an ineradicable part of man's nature.
We must appropriate these promises to ourselves that we may overcome unbelief, and get the victory over every besetment.[23]
God will prove us again and again until we overcome our besetments, or are wholly given over to our rebellion and stubbornness.[24]
9. Transmission of sin--by contagion, and by influence, not by biological inheritance.
It is the nature of sin to spread and increase. Since the first sin of Adam, from generation to generation it has spread like a contagious disease.[25]
Through the medium of influence, taking advantage of the action of mind on mind, (Satan) prevailed on Adam to sin. ... And ever since then sin has continued its hateful work, reaching from mind to mind.[26]
10. Inherited fallen nature--not an excuse for sin.
There are many who in their hearts murmur against God. They say, "We inherit the fallen nature of Adam, and are not responsible for our natural imperfections." They find fault with God's requirements, and complain that He demands what they have no power to give. Satan made the same complaint in heaven, but such thoughts dishonor God.[27]
11. The death of babies--not because of inherited guilt.
In order to possess an endless existence, man must continue to partake of the tree of life. ... None of the family of Adam were permitted to pass that barrier (see Genesis 3:22-24) to partake of the life-giving fruit: hence there is not an immortal sinner.[28]
Adam could not transmit to his posterity that which he did not possess. ... Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree of life, he would have lived forever. ... Not one of the family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an immortal sinner.[29]
12. "Condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3)--A life without sin in sinful flesh.
Satan had declared that it was impossible for the sons and daughters of Adam to keep the law of God. ... Men who are under the control of Satan repeat these accusations against God, in asserting that men can not keep the law of God. Jesus humbled Himself, clothing His divinity with humanity, in order that He might stand as the head and representative of the human family, and by both precept and example condemns sin in the flesh, and give the lie to Satan's charges. ... He fulfilled every specification of the law, and condemned sin in the flesh. ... God was manifested in the flesh to condemn sin in the flesh, by manifesting perfect obedience to all the law of God.[30]
13. The Brazen Serpent--the sinful flesh that Christ assumed. What a strange symbol of Christ was that likeness of the serpent that stung them. This symbol was lifted on a pole, and they were to look at it and be healed. So Jesus was made in the likeness of sinful flesh.[31]
14. "Animal"--used in sense of biological. All animal propensities are to be subjected to the higher powers of the soul.[32]
15. "Took upon"--Meaning made clear by parallel expressions.
Linked himself to the weakness of humanity.[33]
Unite the fallen race with Himself.[34]
One with the fallen race.[35]
Connected sinful man with his own divine nature.[36]
Embraces fallen humanity.[37]
Allied Himself with fallen human beings.[38]
The child of a fallen race.[39]
Identified itself with the weakness and wretchedness of fallen man.[40]
16. "Form"--Not identical with nature.
It was in the order of God that Christ should take upon Himself the form and nature of fallen man.[41]
He was not only made flesh, but He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh.[42]
17. Christ the "Second Adam"--Not the same nature but the same temptations as the first Adam (see lengthy discussion in RH 7/28/74 on page 37 and quotation from ST 10/17/1900 on page 124.)
18. Passions and propensities.
These terms have been receiving so much attention in recent years that it seemed best to do an extensive word study on them. In particular, the term "propensities" as used in a personal letter from Ellen White while in Australia to a Pastor W. L. H. Baker who was laboring in Tasmania, has occasioned much discussion. Reference will be made to this letter in the next section of this paper and in Appendix B at the back of this paper, page 321. The letter itself may be seen in Appendix A, page 310.
Notes: